Undoing of the ANC impacts on country

OLIGARCHY AND GRAFT: POOR SUFFER MOST Power has eroded the sobriety that was once a liberation movement determined to do good.

Ruling party, especially cabal led by the president, has rendered the economy so sickly, it’s stopped growing.

SA’s political and democratic legitimacy has never been in more serious trouble, exacerbated by the economic recession. The internal scramble for power within the ANC’s oligarchy simply revealed what was already there.

To ANC supporters/members who might feel aggrieved on reading this column, I write and critique your party because it’s the governing party, so whatever happens to/within it affects me and millions of South Africans.

On every level the ANC, as the ruling party and especially this cabal led by President Jacob Zuma, has rendered the economy so sickly that it has failed to grow at the same rate as some of the other powerfully endowed African nations currently experiencing growth of more than 3%.

The undoing of this once great liberation movement isn’t the failing economy or lack of capacity in their governing role. Nor is it its often eclectic, somewhat confused ideologies or policies.

Rather, its undoing has been manifesting through things such as #Guptaleaks, state capture, the allegations in Jacques Pauw’s book and the Sars crisis. At the heart of SA’s biggest threat to political and democratic legitimacy is a human soul: men and women of unbridled and dangerous ambitions driven by greed, corruption and desire for unrivalled power. In all the ANC structures, power – corrupting and intoxicating – has eroded the sobriety that was once a liberation movement determined to do good.

Much like Caesar, the ruling party has let power muddy their response to the cries of the poor, occluded their vision of their governing shortcomings and blurred the boundaries on what’s acceptable and what isn’t. Conditions changed in the course of the ANC’s reign and it’s been found wanting. It’s yet to show signs of a government that knows what to do with a stagnant economy and chronic official unemployment in the 27% range.

The following are two examples of the difficulty I have with how the ANC crosses over into the economic sphere and attempts to solve problems:

Using revenue accrued from a very small tax base to dispense social grants – a well-meaning but unsustainable way of ensuring citizens’ well-being.

The effect of high, rising basic services’ and public servants’ overheads on the economy.

It takes economic literacy to know the welfare state and rising public sector wage bill is unsustainable. Sadly, in our case, the ruling party politicians’ vision has been blurred by power, greed, corruption and selling SA to a certain family, so they’ve become impervious to the economic reality of the country they’re presiding over.

Within its ranks are those who are the architects of the rise to power of individuals who hoodwinked the “collective leaderships” and laid the foundation for state capture – and in so doing held the future of SA and her people in check.

For the ANC, and some of its leaders, the endgame has been reached. I just hope it isn’t too late for SA.